


Falling In Love Little By Little

by zoraspot



Category: Homestuck
Genre: (plus a handful of siblings), A very healthy serving of familial interaction, Alpha Dave is the best dad, David Lalonde - Freeform, Dirk Lalonde - Freeform, Dirk is a disaster, Fluff, Jake Harley - Freeform, Jake is also a disaster, M/M, Meet-Cute, Slow Burn, and a special appearance from Jade Egbert!, catboy dirk, cliche tropes, cottagecore Jake, dark academia dirk, dogboy jake, make it kidswapped!, the oh no I bumped into you and spilled your coffee so now I am indebted to you now trope, well-intentioned sibling meddling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:35:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28747026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoraspot/pseuds/zoraspot
Summary: I ran into a cute dogboy and spilled his coffee all over myself and all I got this stupid heart-wrenching yearning.Or, in which Dirk makes a series of mistakes that spiral quickly out of his hands. Featuring: A Shameful Amount of Second Hand Embarrassment and Plenty of Fun Family Content.
Relationships: Jake English/Dirk Strider
Kudos: 8
Collections: DirkJake Big Bang 2k21





	1. Chapter 1

Light trails in from a half-curtained window, bouncing off the butter-coloured painted walls and filling the room with a soft yellow glow. Dirk Lalonde is laying across his bed, squinting against a sunbeam that rolls across his face as he flips over onto his stomach with a groan.

He lets his face smush against his blanket for a moment before looking back up around his room. His eyes trail across his bookshelves, full of old, pompous looking books, and his little knick-knacks he has strewn about atop old vintage crates. It’s all quite pleasing to look at. He rolls off of his bed and onto his oversized bean bag chair, landing smoothly.

Dirk’s a fairly twig-like man of average stature, which is a code-word for he is actually shorter than he’d like to admit. His curly mostly-blonde hair is grown out to his shoulders, leaving a good expanse of his brown roots showing. Poking out of his hair are two dark cat ears, accompanied appropriately by his long, thin tail.

There’s not much he has to do today. Laundry, help with the ironing, keep repairing that one typewriter... none of those seem very interesting right now. His spine pops a bit as he stands up, surprising him slightly as he makes his way out of his room and into the foriegn bubble of reality for the first time in about a month.

He enters the living room, standing there like an awkward pigeon as he’s immediately greeted with a stare-off from Dave, his brother of a good few years younger than him.

“Who _are_ you?” Dave says almost mockingly.

“Really? I haven’t been in my room for that lo-” He’s cut off by Dave yelling, calling in their father.

Right on cue, in walks David Lalonde, a fairly popular horror author and father to a pair of assholes. He’s dressed up in some comfortable slacks and a deep purple sweater. “What’s-!” His face turns from concern to mild surprise as he sees Dirk, his own matching cat ears flicking as he slings the towel he was using to dry his hands over his shoulder, pulling him into a hug.

“How are you doing?”

“I’ve been doing fine- I didn’t know you came home? I thought you weren’t coming back from your trip until tomorrow.”

“I haven’t been home too long, don’t worry. I meant to come talk to you first of course, but- your lovely auntie Rosa made me put away all of my things first before she headed out.” He says with a bit of joking contempt as he pulls away from the hug.

Dirk smiles, “I get it, don’t worry. He sniffs slightly, catching some smell in the air. “Is someone cooking something?”

“Yeah- dinner for everyone who wants it.”

Dirk’s stomach growls in perfectly ironic timing, which David laughs slightly at. “Hungry?”

“Maybe.”

David turns to face the couch, which Dave had since gotten comfortable on while looking at his phone. “Are you hungry?”

“No, I’m Dave.”

David rolls his eyes at him. “Do you want to eat.”

“I’ll come in sometime soon.”

“Well, you’ll be free to join us at any time.”

Dirk follows David into the kitchen, smiling as he takes in the warm smell of chilli on the stove. He helps David set the table, putting out bowls for everyone.

“I hope this’ll be alright, I haven’t cooked for you all in a while.”  
  
“Your chilli’s always great,” Dirk sets the last bowl down. “Should I go get everybody?”

“I can do it if you’d like to get started eating.”

“I can- it’ll take a minute and I might as well let everyone know I’m not dead.” He jokes, deadpanned.

David gives him a smile and pats his back as Dirk turns to leave. “Alright, thank you.”

Dirk makes his rounds through the hallways, knocking on bedroom doors and calling through them, announcing that dinner’s actually ready and not will-actually-really-be-ready-in-five-minutes-ready.

He comes back into the kitchen and sits down to his now-full bowl and takes a bite as David sits down next to him. “This is even better than last time holy shit,”

“Or is it because you haven’t had it in so long?”

Dirk hums and shrugs his shoulders.

“I think that might be the case.” David says, nodding to Dave as he comes in and sits down with a “thank you.”

“Or, you’ve improved since last time.”

“Hah- oh I doubt that. I had barely cooked for myself while I was out.”

Dave finishes eating faster than ever, getting up to clean his bowl and putting it away before sitting down again.

Loud and quick footsteps slap against the tile hallway as Ro comes stumbling into the kitchen.

“Hi butthead-” Dave says, looking up at her.

Ro gives an offended face back as she runs over to noogie him. “TAKE THAT BACK!”

“NOT THE HAIR-”

Dirk holds back a laugh as he watches the kids fight, amused. “Hello-”

Ro freezes. “TIMAEUS!” She lets go of the choke hold she had Dave in and runs over to nearly tackle Dirk off of his chair in a hug.”

Dirk laughs and hugs her back, making an over-exaggerated “Mwah” noise as he plants a kiss on his youngest pseudo-sibling’s cheek.

“Dirk! Dirk! Dirk! Did you hear!!! Momma’s started letting me help Dave with his work! So that means I get to boss him around.”

Dave glares over, rubbing at his throat. “No you don’t! You’re still like, ten.”

“I AM ELEVEN AS OF TWO MONTHS AGO!”

“You’re still short, though.”

Ro lets go of Dirk and launches herself back over at Dave with a play growl, trapping him and continuing to noogie him.

Dave growls back, pushing at her with little success. “Get ooooooooff-”

She laughs and pushes him away, skipping off to sit in her seat and dig into her food. David snorts as Ro sticks her tongue out at Dave and Dave does it back.

Dirk scraps his spoon along the bowl to get the last bits of his chilli. “That’s very cool that you get to do that. You’re growing up so quickly.”

Ro swings her spoon around, splatting some mush on the ground. “I KNOW! I’m gonna get so tall.”

“You are going to be so tall-” Dirk takes his bite off the spoon. “If you take after your mama you’re going to be towering over us in no time.”

“She’s scary,” Dave says.

“She’s not scary, she’s cool!” Ro quickly defends.

“Fine- cool AND scary. Remember that weird tall guy at the gas station- she scared him!”

Dirk furrows his eyebrows slightly as he thinks. “I don’t remember if I was here for that.”

Dave puts his phone down on the table and leans his chin on his hand. “Ro killed some kid and their something or other got mad.”

“Oh my gawwwddd- stop, I hate that clown.” Ro groans and stuffs her cheeks full before getting up to get seconds.

“You killed somebody?” How much did Dirk miss while he was just holing up in his room?

Ro gets an angry look on her face, almost like she and Dave have had this argument before. “I did not kill anybody!”

“Ah-”

“But I snuck outta the house and they screamed at me.”

“-oh.”

“But momma found out where they lived and went to chop his dick off!”

Dirk chokes on his food and slaps his hand against his chest a few times as Dave looks at her with a disgusted face. “Ro!”

“What, it’s just the facts!!”

Dave opens his mouth to bite back- but then his phone starts ringing. He groans and flips it over, and his face immediately brightens. He takes his phone and slides out of his chair, quickly leaving the room.

Ro follows and yells after him, teasing something about his “booyyyyfriieeeend” as Dave squacks back and slams a door.

Dirk and David share a similarly amused look as David gets up to start working on the dishes. Dirk decides that maybe he’ll stay out of his room for longer, and stays to help him.


	2. Chapter 2

With deciding to brace the world outside of his room comes the dreaded, inevitable question-slash-command from David. “Why don’t you go outside?”

It is here, in a quaint little outdoor market that Dirk finds himself today.

There are thankfully not that many people out, the aroma of fresh food fills the air in a lovely way, and the sun is out with a few very interestingly shaped clouds that have captured all of Dirk’s attention.

His tail sways low, nearly brushing the ground as his chin is tipped up towards the sky, eyes tracing the edges of the puffy and smooth clouds hung in the sky. There’s a slight skip in his step- and he plods directly into a brick wall.

Pain ungracefully blossoms in his hips and back as he lands flat on the ground, his shades knocked off and the world suddenly uncomfortably bright.

Dirk blinks a few times and looks down at himself, squinting against the bright afternoon sun- his shades must have been knocked off. It’s not red- he’s not bleeding, but it’s really fucking hot and it- oh that’s the smell of coffee. … Oh fuck that is going to stain his clothes. He whines, trying to wipe it off with his hands- that is not working at all. Where did _coffee_ come from?

It’s only after a good few solid moments before he looks up and realizes- fuck, that’s not a wall that he ran into. That’s an entire person.

Cold dread and embarrassment flood his whole body, gripping his heart as looks up at the person that he slammed into. He barely catches the motion of the person putting his phone in his skirt pocket and standing up, reaching a hand out and down towards Dirk.

“Gosh- I’m so sorry, oh dear, I’ve absolutely ruined your clothes, haven’t I-”

Dirk spends a few seconds too long gazing up at him all dumb-struck. He’s so tall, totally could qualify as a real brick wall, and absolutely beautiful. He has a long, flowing skirt and a loose blouse on, open half-way down his chest. Dirk blushes, looking up and away from his chest to see his dark brown puppy dog ears twitch and suddenly remembers the hand that is right in front of him.

He blushes and clears his throat, taking his hand and letting himself be pulled into a standing position. “It’s okay, you’re fine bro. It’s my fault for not paying attention and gazing at the clouds like an idiot. I’m so sorry.”  
  
Dirk looks down at his clothes again. They’re totally ruined, but it’s fine. It’s not like he has to wear this outfit anywhere special. His hand lingers in the stranger’s gentle hold for a few more moments after he’s stable on his feet.

His hands are so big and warm, slightly calloused like he works with them but they’re somehow so incredibly soft- Dirk yanks his hand away and panics for a second, hoping that he didn’t just create an awkward moment and that this guy thinks he’s some kind of creep.

“Thanks, uh- sorry- I’m so sorry.”

“As if I wasn’t distracted as well! I’m the one who ruined your lovely clothes, I’m sorry. I must take the cake for the world’s biggest pumperschnuffling dickhead.” He takes his hand back. “You have no reason to be sorry- I’m not the brightest fella but I do believe that a good soak in water and detergent gets coffee stains out of clothes?”

Lovely- fixating on the way that the word rolled so brain-tinglingly smooth off his tongue- Dirk almost missed the rest of his words.

“No it’s alright- I’m still sorry, it’s my fault and I should have been paying more attention to where I was walking- sorry. … I will… try that when I get home.” He gives him a nod and a tight lipped smile, wishing that he could crawl backwards into his own skin.

“It’s nowhere near your fault, don’t even try blaming yourself for something that could’ve been avoided if I had just put my gosh-darned phone down.”  
  
Dirk blinks and his breath feels heavy in his chest. There’s no way out of this, is there. Guilt attaches itself like a thousand-ton anchor to his heart, launching it’s merry little self into the depths of the deep dark blue ocean. His mind races a bit, and he looks at the pitiful now-empty coffee cup laying on the pavement.

“Let me buy you a new coffee?” Dirk blurts out as he watches the man’s face blank out. Welp. He messed this one up, didn’t he?

“Now, now, you don’t have to do that, now that’s just silly. I ruined your clothes and you’d be paying for my mistake in every sense of the word.”

“It could have been avoided if I wasn’t looking directly upwards at the sky like a complete idiot.” He swallows and sets his eyebrows in a determined line. “Even if my clothes are ruined, you still had just bought a cup of coffee-” He pauses to look back at the cup, reading it’s logo. “That cafe’s only a few minute’s walk from here- it wouldn’t be anything out of my way.”

“I- it wouldn’t be ethical for you to do so but- Gosh, I guess I can’t stop you if you’re so gung-ho set on doing such a thing. It would be rude of me to decline again and again, I still do believe I’m in the wrong here, if you’re buying a coffee for me I should be doing something in return to make up for your clothes.”  
  
“You’re alright, you don’t have to do anything, I can fix them on my own I promise.” Dirk waves his hands in a slight panic. “I would like to buy you a new one, even just as a symbol of my apology.”

“As long as you aren’t upset with me-” He’s practically sweating. “-which you have every right to! I’m still the biggest dickprince, dickhead, oh- whatever I said- in the world at the moment.” He laughs a bit and has an awkward little grin on his face.

He does a little snort out of his nose as the man laughs, feeling the mood lift slightly. “I’m not upset with you. That thought hasn’t even crossed my mind at all- I hope you’re not too upset with me.” He tries to do a small laugh back, looking at his smile and feeling his heart do a flip.

Oh no. Oh fuck no this is not going to turn into yet another _saw a pretty guy for five minutes and fell in love with him: month long breakdown edition_ event. Dirk opens his mouth to make a rebuttal comment about himself being the top dick-prince but then closes his mouth as he realizes that that is the worst thing to say to an absolute stranger.

Thankfully- the man doesn’t seem to notice that Dirk had words just on the tip of his tongue.

“Oh I doubt that I could be upset with you, you’ve been so understanding about this, especially since I was the one to get us into this pickle with my coffee.” He smiles again as his fluffy tail really starts to wag.

“Well, I’m glad then.” Dirk tilts his head a bit as he watches his tail come into view from behind his skirt. Oh. That’s cute. He blinks a bit and tries to make it not look like he’s staring, darting his eyes off to the side. Fuck- his shades-

He looks around in a slight panic before quickly locating them and bending down to pick them up and promptly stick them on his face.

“So- uh, what coffee do you like?” He takes a few slow steps down the pathway, making sure that the man has picked up the hint that he’s ready to head over. He picks up quickly, and takes to walking at his side.

“Well, I have a preference for things with more sugar in them rather than black coffee, I think that’s something most of my family has in common, aside from the one monstrosity who drinks the coffee straight from the pot.” He laughs warmly from his chest. “I’ll be darned, he could kick my behind any day-”

Dirk notes how bubbly his voice is, drawing him in like a sailor to a siren.

“-Sorry, I must have rambled for far too long, do you like coffee?”

“I do- I think there’s a person like that in every house, and I happen to be one. I usually just drink it black, sometimes with sugar and cream, but more cream than sugar.”

“I think we have something in common then- cream over the sugar.”

A light smile has found its way onto Dirk’s face as they banter back and forth about coffee. His mind does a slight record scratch as he notices how soft he’s feeling. He doesn’t even know if this dude likes guys- he could very well just be straight. His fuzzy heart stomps itself out as he tries to discreetly look him up and down for any signs- on their bag, shoes, oh- he pulls out his phone during a pause and that is most definitely a pride sticker stuck onto the case.

His heart lights up again and he feels almost giddy as he clears his throat. “So…”

“So...!” He absolutely beams at him, putting his phone back into his pocket.

Dirk’s brain stops for a moment. How does he even bring this up? He stumbles over some vague words as he waves his hand around before settling on flicking his wrist limp and raising his eyebrow. The universal signal.

His heart lights up again and he feels almost giddy as he clears his throat. “So…”

“So...!” He absolutely beams at him, putting his phone back into his pocket.

Dirk’s brain stops for a moment. How does he even bring this up? He stumbles over some vague words as he waves his hand around before settling on flicking his wrist limp and raising his eyebrow. The universal signal.

His face goes blank again before that big ol’ goofy grin shows itself again and his tail wags even harder, giving him an enthusiastic nod.

Dirk’s ears perk up towards him as warm feelings start bubbling back up in his chest. “Me I’m- uh, yeah- I- am too.”

“Another thing we have in common then?” His voice is oozing with excitement.

“I guess so.” Dirk gives him a smile back.”

“Wonderful!” He claps his hands and grins harder. “Any time you have something in common with another person you are just in luck! Gosh, didn’t think I’d actually be able to relate to someone else like this in a while.”

“Oh same… it’s surprisingly hard to find people that you just… click with.” He half huffs out of his nose, lightly amused at Jake’s clap- that was adorable. 

The cafe quickly comes into view as they round the corner.

“Looks like we’re here, then.” Dirk says as they walk up to the door. He has been here a couple times before, it’s quite a nice place to get a cup and chill for a bit.

The door is opened for him by the absolutely radiant dogboy, who follows him inside as he steps in.

“Thank you for offering to buy me another coffee, chap- You really didn’t have to! I appreciate it greatly.” He rubs his hands in circles around each other, visibly trying to calm down his bouncing excitement.

“I’d still find a way to make it up to you, and this happened to be the most apparent and easiest way.” Dirk’s face was getting slightly sore from smiling- not like he could help it. His normally stone-cold face has been infected by that warm, all-encompassing energy.

They walk up to the counter and Dirk recites the coffee order- remembering it from when he asked him how he likes his coffee, then looks up at them for confirmation that he got it right.

“Yup! That’s the gist of it!” His grin shoots right back onto his face like his excitement never even faded.

Dirk gives himself a mental pat on the back as he thanks the barista and they walk over to wait against the wall. The coffee is ready very quickly- and Dirk gets up to get it for him. He gives it a tiny swish around before handing it over to them, giving a smile.

He takes the drink from Dirk and gives him another signature goofy grin. Dirk lets out a tiny sigh, realizing that the deed is done- the transaction has been completed- it’s time to part ways.

...

He absolutely doesn’t want to do that.

The light and warmth radiating from him is just so addicting, like he could get hooked on it and never want to let it go.

“Thank you! Also, yet again, apologies for ruining your clothes. Might I add- they look wonderful, er, without the coffee stains.” He can’t help himself from laughing happily, using his free hand to run it through his hair.

Dirk’s heart does a flip and a blush spreads over his face as he calls his clothes “wonderful-” his blush darkening even more as he watches his hair spring back from where his hand was.

“Thanks. I like your style, too.” Is he flirting? Is this flirting? He should not be doing this- he’s only known him for what, thirty minutes? Fuck.

This is going to cause one of those restless pining sessions, isn’t it.

“Oh! Thank you! I quite like the style I had picked out for myself.” He takes a breath and almost looks sad for a moment, making Dirk’s heart twist. “I’d hate to leave so suddenly after you bought me a coffee to make up for, er- the one I spilled, but… I don’t want to waste your valuable time any longer.”

“Oh.” Dirk’s disappointment leaks into his voice a bit. Why does he feel so upset? He had just met him. They had an accident. He made up for it. It’s that simple and precise- an easy equation, and the next step is obvious- he parts ways with him like any normal human would,

Why is this so hard?  
  
It’s not like it’s some life or death situation- even though it feels like he could keel over the moment the man leaves his sight.

“Yeah, right. I’m sure you have things to get to, too.”

“Right, I should get home soon-” he blows on his coffee and takes a sip. “-wouldn’t want my siblings to think I got in a tussle! Thank you for the coffee, I’m still terribly sorry about your clothes. I hope they get cleaned out!”

_So this is goodbye, isn’t it?_

“Me too- and of course, I hope you enjoy it.”

“Goodbye! I hope you have a good rest of your day!”

Dirk looks at him in silence for a few awkward moments too long before waving and shuffling out of the shop, looking back to wave back at him- and nearly tripping over his shoes as he does so.

He mentally curses himself for not making his exit as smooth as he hoped.

On his walk back, Dirk’s mind is fully occupied by thoughts of the pretty dogboy he just met. He replays stills of his face and clips of his voice over and over in his mind until he could swear he has them memorized. The house comes up faster than he thought it would, and unlocks the door to make his way inside.

“I THOUGHT I SAID NO GUNS!!!” Ro’s piercing voice shrieks as Dave chases her around the living room couch in circles with a nerf gun.

Dirk blinks a bit, wanting to completely avoid that as he stalks around the outskirts of the room, passing the kitchen as he tries to get into the hallway.

“Dirk???” Ro notices him and stops sprinting, almost falling on her face.

Dirk shrinks back as a foam bullet lands on his shoulder and falls to the floor. “Hello? What was that for?”

“You walked into the battle zone.” Dave responds before screaming and dropping the toy gun as Ro scrambles back after him at full speed.

Dirk’s brain feels like it’s about to burst as he quickly paces down the hallway. He’s completely overwhelmed with emotions that he needs to be rid of.

He needs some Dad talk time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lovely art is done by [aAngryRaisin](https://www.instagram.com/aangryrasin/)!


End file.
